Progress against cancer is stalling, with the latest targeted cancer drugs failing to live up to expectations and priced so high that treatment is becoming unaffordable even in rich countries, according to experts at a meeting of nearly 100 eminent cancer specialists from around the world.

In 2005, Ellen Chen, then 63, was handed some unusually bad news. Not only did she have breast cancer, she had it in both breasts. Incidents of bilateral breast cancer in Hong Kong occur in less than 5 per cent of sufferers.

When Cecilia Lin, 40, first noticed that her lower abdomen was a little swollen and uncomfortable, she thought little of it. She had never had any health concerns and the discomfort was slight. But the seemingly minor symptoms persisted, and a month later, Lin (name changed for patient confidentiality reasons) decided it best to see a doctor.

He seemed to be doing everything right for a healthy life: he did not drink or smoke, and had been running and swimming every day for the past decade. But Lai, 46, a policeman, was diagnosed with first-stage nasopharyngeal cancer in 2006.